3 Percent...

It's that time of year again, and no I'm not talking about Christmas or New Years though they occur at this time every year also.  Not of course that you can convince those last minute shoppers at the mall of this yearly event.  No, they panic and act surprised as if Christmas fails to fall on the 25th of December on a cyclical basis.  With a little less regularity though during the same week or two period also falls yearly review time at work, and today happened to be mine.

Generally I enjoy my job.  Truly I do.  I go in at 8 a.m. and leave at 4:30 and when I say leave I mean leave.  I do not bring the problems home with me.  My evenings and weekends are mine unless of course the work place bully has stomped through my department spewing venom at anyone who dares breathe while in her presence.  At this point I vent for a good half hour or so and then proceed to move about my evening often finding that it is on those eves that I make it to my aerobics class and while the look on my face may be dower I do get a good work out in.  Alas since telling the bully off almost two weeks ago our paths have only crossed professionally as she no longer seems to feel the need to use our department as the crossroads to the rest of the building.  Still, despite the good I simply couldn't shake the feeling that my days were numbered.  A fear that my friends at work told me was completely paranoid and unfounded.  Alas one admitted to those same feelings herself given that our department has dwindled due to an involuntary lay off, and three voluntary terminations of employment that it does not give one great confidence in our own longevity within the organization.  Thus when my personal boss advised that today would be my review I was less than anxious for the outcome, but I need not have been...

Apparently for all intents and purposes I play well with others--even though I recently told the workplace bully off.  My areas for improvement we listed as the general "I need to fill in this space with something"  jumble that is a typical review.  My strengths were noted, and complimented and in the end despite speculation that we were again in a moratorium on pay increases I was given the "if we throw you a bone you won't quit right?"  raise of 3%.  I'd say I was disappointed if it weren't for the fact that we were expecting nothing, and I walked away with something.  Yet that isn't even what made the whole process worth it.

No, what made the whole process worth it was when my boss reached out his hand and shook mine--not in a conciliatory manner, but in a warm gesture and said "I want you to know that it's a great pleasure to work with and to be associated with you"  This was my second review with this company with this particular boss and I can honestly say that this was a first and that alone was worth a job well done...